Tag Archives: it

#622: Supergrass – In It for the Money

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So after Supergrass gained a ton of praise from their debut album I Should Coco in 1995, helped tremendously by their most recognisable hit and youth anthem ‘Alright‘, Steven Spielberg approached the band in an effort to make a television series with them based on that of The Monkees. The group declined, instead choosing to record their second album. This was most definitely the better route to take. Coco was a burst of sharp wit and energy. Its production made all the instruments sound very tight, like they were playing together in a tiny, tiny room. In It for the Money took a totally different direction.

Instead of carrying on with the usual breakneck velocity, Money is made of songs that are allowed to breathe. Take a breeze and chill with some slower tempos. The tracks also sound expansive. There’s also a wider variety of instruments. But the group never lost their playfulness and knack for great tunes. The title track shows it all in the three minutes it lasts for and is a fantastic taster for what’s to come It opens the album with an creepy organ drone that transitions into a heavy Beatles-like arpeggiated riff and Gaz Coombes’ vocal.

“Here I see a time to go and leave it all behind/And you know it’s wrong to fall/We’re in it for the money” are three lyrics that when put read together like that don’t seem to make much sense, though Coombes and bassist Mick Quinn on higher harmony deliver them with a power and confidence that make them sound like a formal declaration. There’s a musical build as the last phrase is repeated before the song explodes into its main refrain. The track takes another turn as it leads into another verse of repeated lines, accompanied with a beautiful guitar line and descending bass groove. A glorious fanfare of horns appear. It’s beautiful stuff.

It comes to a very abrupt halt but you have to listen to the album from front to back to understand the effect of that production decision. Summing it up, this was the introduction to a new Supergrass back in ’97 – definitely not a case of the sophomore slump.

#570: Ween – I Don’t Want It

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I was about 18 when I listened to The Mollusk for the first time when looking for new music to get into. That album was released in 1997 so it’s not new by any means, but you know looking out for stuff that I’d just never heard before. I got to love that album but then I never thought about really digging into the rest of the band’s discography.

Fast forward to 2015. Twenty years old, just started a new job for my placement year. Things are going good. I was at home just chilling in the evening as you do before going to work again the next day and out of curiosity I decided to listen to GodWeenSatan: The Oneness on Spotify…… There was no turning back. I dove deeper into the hole that had opened beyond my ears. I’ve been properly listening to Ween for just over two years now, and I am convinced that they might be the greatest band on this planet. No one really knows it though.

And so, the first Ween song I’m able to cover is ‘I Don’t Want It’, the tenth song on the group’s 2003 album Quebec. The album arrived at the end of a dark period during the band’s original run in which drummer Claude Coleman almost died in a severe car accident and lead vocalist Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween) going through a crummy divorce. ‘I Don’t Want It’ is the song about that crummy divorce and depicts Freeman’s feelings about the whole situation. It’s a sad song, to put it straight, perfectly capturing the moment of realisation when a breaking relationship has come to an end. It’s obviously for the best, though the love is still there that you don’t want to let go.

For the most part the track is played straight. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus. Things slow down afterwards, a short break occurs, and then suddenly a burst of guitar feedback kicks in leading into one of the most glorious guitar solos I’ve heard, drowning out almost every other instrument, echoing into the abyss and backed by some heavenly ‘aah’ vocals. For a time I did think it was lead guitarist Mickey Melchiondo (Dean Ween) doing this solo. Why not? If there’s a solo in any other Ween song, it’s usually him who pulls them off. Then it dawned on me that it could possibly be Freeman himself… Turned out that it was, which made it all the more powerful and heartbreaking to me. It’s perfect.

My iPod #497: Stevie Wonder – He’s Misstra Know-It-All

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“He’s Misstra Know-It-All” closes Stevie Wonder’s seminal album Innvervisions. Preceded by tracks concerning racial tension, drug abuse and love ballads, the song is essentially a description of a man who gains people’s trust only to let them down, is a straight-up liar, only cares about subjects where there is money involved – whether he gains it or loses it, it doesn’t matter – and overall is someone that many people should avoid. The track is said to be about then President of the USA, Richard Nixon.

Despite the scathing lyrics describing this awful human being (I assume the femininisation of Mister to Miss-tra only emphasises Wonder’s disregard for this person), the song’s music itself is some of the calmest on the album. It is a wonderful five and a half minutes of piano, smooth chugging drums and Wonder’s voice along with some backing vocals that you have to nod your head back and forth to in appreciation. That is before the change up at around three minutes where Mr. Wonder begins to deliver his take with a greater passion (signified by an emphatic “BUM-BUUUHNA-BUUUHNA” ad-lib, hand-claps enter the mix, the rhythm sections play around with the rhythm here and there, and a stronger feel to the song’s groove and mood is brought about.

A real classic. Too good.

My iPod #492: The Streets – Has It Come to This?

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“Has It Come to This?” was the first single from Original Pirate Material, the debut album from 2002 by English rapper Mike Skinner under the alias The Streets. Emerging from the UK garage scene that occurred during the late 90s, the tracks on the album deal with everyday occurrences and relatable issues such as love, getting drunk, and going out and manage to capture those little moments that many young people go through. The album was, and still is loved, to this day thanks to Skinner’s delivery, humour, observational lyricism and good beats.

“Has It Come to This” is the second track on the album after Skinner starts things off with brutal confidence on “Turn the Page”, and it is on it that the observational lyricism that runs throughout the entire album really begins. With calming vibes and a chilled piano sample, the song is Skinner’s invitation to the listener to sit back, relax and enjoy the album whilst also giving us a wealth of information about himself and what he sees around him on a daily basis.

Constantly reminding us of his name and album title in the choruses Mike Skinner demands us to get acquainted with what you are about to experience. This was only the beginning.

My iPod #412: OK Go – Get Over It

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“Get Over It” was the first single OK Go released as a band in 2002. And what a way to introduce yourselves. The track is fun as hell and catchy as anything, and gives a lesson concerning ‘getting over’ the silly little things in life that shouldn’t really matter. It’s one of the most poppy tracks the band have ever done before changing to a more indie-rock style for “Oh No”.

It wasn’t until 2006 that I began listening to OK Go, so when I decided to look them up on the web and saw that they “Get Over It” had actually done quite well in the UK (it got to #16, which ain’t too shabby) I thought why not see what the song and video’s like. Maybe I had seen it before, and just forgotten about the track as time went on. It turned out that I had in fact not heard the song before.

The video is just as fun too. This is before the band went out to try out spectacular record-breaking stuff in their music videos, and instead just focuses on them playing the track as the camera zooms in to random objects that are mentioned in the lyrics. And ping-pong occurs for about 3 seconds. Damian Kulash, Jr. also looks very, very young in it, even though he was about 26/27.